


The Nutcracker

by sassafrasx



Series: Holiday Fic [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ballet, Christmas Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-24
Updated: 2013-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-05 21:35:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1098849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sassafrasx/pseuds/sassafrasx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When it finally started Arthur took a deep breath and reminded himself that no matter how boring it was, it could only last but so long.</i>
</p><p>
  <i>Then he saw the dancer who was playing the Nutcracker and nearly swallowed his own tongue.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Nutcracker

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when you have to see the Nutcracker five times in one weekend. Watching all the men and their fantastic bums run around in skin tight white tights is the only thing that can get you through, really. That and imagining one of them is Merlin.

When Morgana had asked — no, _begged_ — for Arthur to take his niece and nephew to the Nutcracker, he had very grudgingly acquiesced.

_“Please, Arthur! It’s a tradition and we go every year. They’ll be so disappointed if they aren’t able to go, and I have a conference that day.”_

_“You want me to go to a ballet?”_

_“Yes. A little culture won’t kill you, you know. And I know how much the kids would love to go with their favourite uncle. Of course, I can always ask Morgause if you hate the fine arts that much…”_

_“No, no! I’d be happy to take them. A ballet sounds… lovely.”_

_“Whatever you say, brother dear. And who knows, maybe you’ll meet a nice boy.”_

And so, despite his grumping and hemming and hawing (and most probably his sanity), Arthur found himself sat in a crowded theatre, crammed in amongst all the children and their overindulgent parents.

Morgana was a filthy, rotten liar.

At least Lea was excited, eyes sparkling almost as much as the tiara on her head and the poofy layers of her pink skirt bouncing with her knees. Even Ethan seemed to be looking forward to it, no matter how much he turned his nose up and complained that it wasn’t football.

When it finally started Arthur took a deep breath and reminded himself that no matter how boring it was, it could only last but so long.

Then he saw the dancer who was playing the Nutcracker and nearly swallowed his own tongue.

Fucking hell. _This was supposed to be for children?_ Christ, but those white tights left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Nothing at all. There was not one glorious inch of that perfectly tight arse and those strong, well-defined legs that he couldn’t see. What he wouldn’t give to feel those long, lanky limbs wrapped around him.

Flushing deep red and feeling suddenly in danger of overheating, Arthur gritted his teeth and tried to sink as far back into the seat as possible. At this rate he was going to end up arrested and inadvertently scar every single child in the theatre with his uncooperative prick. _Just work with me here, mate. Let me get through this without terrifying Morgana’s kids and we can go home and take the world’s longest wank, as many times as we need to, or, hell, even for the entirety of the next week, but just cooperate goddammit._

Of course that was when the dancer bent himself completely in half before stretching out his obscenely flexible legs and Arthur lost all rational thought. Dimly he was aware that he was breathing erratically, but he only gripped the armrests with white knuckles and held himself as stiffly as possible, resigned to the fact that he might not make it out of the ballet alive.

He couldn’t stop watching that lithe body dance gracefully across the stage, barely registering the other dancers at all — and some of the other blokes were more than fit enough that they should have held his attention for much longer than a second — but he was so strong, easily lifting and twirling the girls, and yet so fluid and slim. Arthur bet he could wrap that unbelievably trim waist in both of his palms and then imagined sliding them up to those broad, wiry shoulders. He was built perfectly and Arthur wanted nothing so much as to curl around him and nuzzle into his neck, taking his time to learn every inch of skin and sinew.

There was no way anything about this was even vaguely appropriate for children, as far as Arthur was concerned. From the promisingly large bulge — _and god, what he would give to bury his face there, pull out his cock and swallow him down, while palming that amazing arse_ — to the long, elegant fingers, Arthur was certain he was going mental; but none of the parents seemed to notice. How? How could anyone not notice all of _that_?

This was the single hottest thing that Arthur had ever seen, and he had well more than enough experience and porn for comparison. Fuck.

He wondered what he would look like if Arthur bent him in half underneath him. With that flexibility Arthur could probably push his legs all the way down to the bed next to his chest, leaving him fully open and exposed to Arthur’s whims.

Or, _shit_ , he might actually be flexible enough to fuck Arthur and suck his cock at the same time. While Arthur had certainly never thought he would meet anyone who _could_ do that, simply knowing that it was possible had fueled more of his fantasies during uni than was probably healthy.

Just imagining being split open on that thick cock while each thrust pushed him farther and farther onto his slick tongue until he hit the back of his throat — and all Arthur would be able to see would be his dark, shaggy hair and rippling back muscles — made him breathless.

It was official: he was going to the special hell reserved for adults who couldn’t control themselves in the middle of a theatre full of children.

Then, when the dancer came closer to the edge of the stage and Arthur got a clear view of his face, he knew he was completely and utterly doomed.

_—  
_

After the torture session (sorry, _ballet_ ) was over, he took Lea and Ethan up to the stage where they could say hello and take pictures with some of the dancers.

Heart stuttering a staccato rhythm in his chest, he absolutely failed to stop himself from blushing like a besotted teenager when they approached _his_ dancer. God, he really needed to get ahold of himself. With his luck, the bloke was probably straight, let alone interested in becoming his anything.

Up close he was even more beautiful than Arthur had realised. Bending over to sign Lea’s program, his dark eyelashes fluttered over sharp cheekbones and Arthur swallowed hard.

When he found himself looking into deep blue eyes, he cursed his higher brain functions for deserting him. _Fuckfuckfuck, think, you arsehole! Say something to the most gorgeous man to end up in front of you in years._

“Erm… That was— You were great.”

Chuckling softly, he gave him an amused and considering look and said, “Thanks.”

Lea took that as her cue to break in excitedly, “That was amazing! I’m gonna be the best ballerina in the whole world when I grow up. Maybe I’ll get to dance with you!”

Arthur laughed and kissed the top of her head. “Of course you are.”

The dancer grinned and knelt down, saying, “Is that so?”

“Oh, yeah. Mummy said I can do anything I want to and all I want is to dance.” Lea nodded with the certainty and solemnity only a seven-year-old could muster. “Do you like my tiara? Uncle Arthur gave it to me and got me this pretty dress and he’s going to take us out to some fancy place for tea when we leave, like a real princess.”

Eyes crinkling, he smiled up at Arthur fondly (and damn if that look didn’t turn him into incoherent mush) and said, “Uncle Arthur, huh? You must be very lucky to have such a nice uncle.”

Licking his lips, he looked down at his toes before glancing back up at the other man. _Christ_ , what was wrong with him? _Arthur Pendragon was not shy._

“I am! Mummy says I need to help her find a nice boy for him because he’s helpless at finding one for himself and he deserves to have someone for himself to spoil.”

Groaning, Arthur buried his head in his hands, shoulders shaking violently in laughter. If there was a speck of skin on his body that wasn’t an unnatural shade of red, it was now. He was sure even his _prick_ was blushing in embarrassment at this point, for fuck’s sake.

Pulling himself together, he looked up to see the dancer valiantly trying to hold back his guffaws, eyes crinkled almost completely shut. “Lea, I love my sister very dearly, but you should never, ever listen to anything your mum says about me. It’s all complete rubbish, I promise. She just loves to torture me.”

Ethan raised his eyebrows sceptically and finally decided to contribute to the conversation, the traitor. “I dunno. When was the last time you had a proper boyfriend?” Eight-year-olds really should not be able to express so much disdain about his lovelife, or lack thereof; it was patently unfair.

Perhaps taking pity on him, the other man smiled softly at him and told Lea, “Well I don’t want to keep such a pretty princess from her tea. I bet Uncle Arthur would like me to sign his program too and then I’ll let you go.”

“Oh, yes, that would be lovely, thank you.”

And as they walked back up the stairs Arthur glanced down at the signature and saw,

_20 5555 2020_ _—Merlin_

Merlin. Beaming, he turned around and waved, utterly unable to stop himself from looking like a fool. A happy, giggly, lovestruck fool. But when he saw the matching wide, idiotic grin on Merlin’s face, he felt something warm and pleasant unfurl inside of him.

This was shaping up to be the best Christmas he had had in years.

Morgana was amazing and a saint and would be unbelievably smug about this and Arthur didn’t care in the slightest. _  
_


End file.
